The will to protect
by OutOfThisTown
Summary: Before dying, Kikyo ties Inuyasha's life to her little sister, Kagome, in order to ensure her safety. Inuyasha is not too pleased about getting dragged into this mess and demands that Kagome undo the spell. Unfortunately for him, she has no idea how to do that. Inuyasha has to find the willingness to keep Kagome out of harm's way as Kagome tries to find a way to undo the spell.
1. Chapter 1

Inuyasha glared at the woman to whom his life was now tied to. Gods, he hated her.

There she was, sitting in a sun filled meadow, making flower crowns as laughing children ran around her. She was smiling and having fun and completely unaware of the life she had ruined.

Well, technically a life her sister had ruined, but since that one was dead, the blame lied with this one. After all, if she didn't exist, Inuyasha would be free to do as he pleased.

The memory of _that_ day had Inuyasha growling and digging his claws into the tree branch he was hiding on. _That one fucking day._

He watched as she placed the crown on the head of one of the kids and then told them all to head back home. He watched as the children argued back and said that they wanted to stay with her a little longer. Watched as she promised to play with them tomorrow if they hurried home. And he watched as the kids pouted but finally, finally, did as she asked and left the meadow, leaving the woman alone. Alone and vulnerable.

Kagome was aware of the eyes on her, she had been for a few days now. She was sure the presence was demonic but there was no malice and it didn't feel like her life was in danger. Still, she send the children away in hopes that the creature would finally show itself and reveal it's intentions. This waiting game was driving her up the wall.

Kagome lay back into the soft grass and waited, her hand closing around the bow she had hidden among the flowers. Just because she didn't think the presence wanted to harm her, didn't mean she was going to be dumb about it.

Frustration started to build as time ticked by. Unlike Kikyo, patience was not one of Kagome's strengths. Kikyo would have no trouble spending hours here, just waiting and never revealing how bored she was. That, or she would have just demanded that the demon show themselves, but Kagome wanted to give them the space to come out when they were ready.

With a sigh, she let her thoughts wander back to her sister. Kikyo had been traveling for the last two months so it would be time for the priestess to return soon. Kagome wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Growing up, the two had been close but once the priestess training had started... Kikyo changed. Her only focus was on her studies. She refused to join Kagome and the other village girls when they headed off to the springs together, she didn't want to gossip about the boys who tried to catch their attention, she didn't care about anything that didn't have to do with being a priestess. And while Kagome still loved and missed her sister when she was gone... she was also a little relived whenever the older girl left.

Kikyo had a way of making Kagome feel like she wasn't enough. She didn't spend enough time practicing archery and other forms of fighting, she didn't spend all the sunny days locked inside and reading over ancient texts, she wasted too much time with the other girls, giggling and talking about unimportant things.

And it wasn't like Kagome didn't take becoming a priestess seriously -she did. She liked giving blessings and making protective charms, and learning about healing herbs and their uses was something she could spent hours doing, but she also wanted there to be more to her life than just being a priestess. Kikyo did not approve of that.

Suddenly, Kagome felt a shift in the air. She sat up and looked to the side from where a red-clad demon was approaching.

"You took your time," was all she could think to say. Kagome eyed the demon, admiring the adorable ears on top of his head. Rather un-priestess-like thought of touching those fluffy -looking triangles popped in to her head. He had stopped before reaching her, but she could still see the gold of his eyes and the snarl on his face.

"Wanted to be sure that there'd be no kids coming back to interrupt us." His voice was low and it sent shivers down her spine.

"Would there be something to interrupt?" Kagome raised an eyebrow and watched as the demon blinked at her before he scowled, light blush coloring his cheeks.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Wench. I'm here for business," he growled.

"Who said it was in the gutter? I was just wondering what you wanted with me, you're the one who jumped to conclusions about my meaning." The blush and the scowl both deepened.

"Enough! Like I said, there's business to deal with. I ain't got time for games," he snapped. "You're the priestess of this sorry village?"

"I am, but if you need help with something complicated, you're out of luck. The head priestess has not returned from her travels yet," Kagome hummed and tried to keep the curiosity from showing in her voice. Kikyo often told her that it was for the best to take an indifferent attitude when dealing with unknown things and people. '_Never show your true feelings'_ she'd say.

'What could this demon want with a priestess?' Kagome wondered. She was sure he wasn't here to kill, her instincts had never failed her and they were telling her this demon was not a threat to her or the village.

Was he in need of a healer? He didn't look injured, but maybe someone close to him was? Maybe he had gotten a human girl pregnant and needed someone to deliver the baby. Most healers and midwives refused to deal with demons and would rather kill than help a human woman who had meddled with one.

"You're Kagome, right? I need you to undo a curse that was put on me."

Kagome blinked at him. That was not what she expected. She knew that her reputation as a healer was well known in the area, but breaking a curse wasn't something she'd ever done. Why would he come to her with this?

"I don't think I can help you with that. You'll have to wait for Kikyo to return, she's far better at that type of thing." Of course, whether or not Kikyo would help a demon was another matter.

"Kikyo can't help me with this since she ain't coming back." Kagome stilled at his words.

Then, quickly, she tightened her grip on her bow, used her other hand to grab an arrow from the ground, stood up and took aim.

"What are you talking about? What did you do to her?" Her voice was harsher than she'd ever heard it before. Even when the worst scenarios rushed through her brain and it felt difficult to breath, her eyes and weapon staying aimed steadily at him.

"Relax. I didn't do anything but I will break your fucking arm off if you try shooting at me," the demon spat, not happy with the accusation.

"Then what did you mean by Kikyo not coming back?"

"What do you think? It means she's dead but I wasn't the one who killed her."

It felt like her world had tipped over. Then it felt like her heart -that had just moments ago tried to beat itself out of her chest- would never move again. Kagome struggled to stop her eyes from tearing up.

When she next spoke, her voice came out strangled, "You're lying. Kikyo isn't dead. I would know if she were. I would have felt something." Kagome forced her arrow just a little further back on the bow, her arms trembling. "Now, what the hell do you want?"

"Look, I don't know what you expected, but I watched her bleed out and I talked to her as she died," he still sounded annoyed but there was also a softness to his eyes. Like he was just now realizing the weight of his words.

"And why would I ever believe that you had nothing to do with her death?" Kagome hissed. Her mind refusing to believe anything he said.

"If I had killed her, the last thing I would be doing is messing with her sister, who also happens to be a priestess. I ain't suicidal." He took a deep breath, trying to find the right words. He still needed Kagome's help and pissing her off would not make it easier. "I was tracking down a demon and when I found him, he was fighting Kikyo. He was the one who killed her but she also wounded him badly enough that -rather than stay and fight- he ran off when he saw me."

"And why would you bother coming here to tell me of my sister's passing? You don't seem like the sentimental type." Kagome was trying her best not to believe him, but the voice inside her kept telling her to trust him. ...But she couldn't do that -trusting him meant that Kikyo was dead...and she wasn't, Kikyo couldn't be.

"I'm here because the last thing your dear sister did was curse me. Only you can undo it," his snarl was back, the memory souring his already bad mood.

"And you want me to believe that you didn't have anything to do with her alleged demise. If Kikyo cursed you, she would have had a reason for it." Kagome was struggling to keep her composure. Her emotions and thoughts were all over the place and holding the arrow knocked was starting to take it's toll on her arms. She needed to decided soon what she would do. Demons were fast and strong, so Kagome would have to make a lethal shot on her first try. She didn't like her chances at hand to hand combat against the demons claws.

Inuyasha was cursing in his head. The conversation was not going how he had planned and from the looks of it, Kagome was getting ready to put an arrow through him. "For the last fucking time: I had nothing to do with Kikyo's death! The one who killed her was Naraku and-" Inuyasha didn't get further in his explanation when the priestess suddenly dropped her bow.

"Naraku," she whispered, voice weak. She staggered back a few steps, shaking her head. "No, no, no, no," a sob broke out of her as she fell to her knees. "I believe you. He did it. Naraku killed her."

And then she passed out, leaving Inuyasha stumped and wondering what the hell he was supposed to do with an unconscious priestess.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagome woke slowly, and for one blissful moment, she didn't remember why she had fainted in the first place. But when she saw the silver hair and dog ears, it all came flooding back.

Her sister was truly dead. Killed by that monster. No longer could Kagome doubt the stranger's words, she felt it in her very soul. She knew that only Naraku could have taken down Kikyo. He had tried so many times before and this time he had finally succeeded in his hellish goal.

Kagome felt like she couldn't breath. The only reason she wasn't crying, was that she didn't wish to do it in front of the jerk hovering over her.

She swatted her hand at him, trying to shoo him away so she could sit up. He scowled at her, but wasted no time moving back.

"Why are you still here?"

"Did you forget what I said? Your dumb sister cursed me and you have to undo it," the demon growled.

"I don't have to do anything for you. And did you forget what _I_ said? Even if I wanted to -and I don't, I can't undo curses. That was Kikyo's thing," Kagome snapped back. "And what the hell did you say to my dying sister to get her to use her last strengths on casting a curse?"

"Well you'd better learn how, because if you don't I will make you regret it."

They stared at each other for a moment, Kagome wondering where she had dropped her arrow. She wanted to stab him.

"And like I said: I. Didn't. Do. A. Thing," the demon went on. "Saw her bleeding on the ground, went to go past her and after Naraku, she called me over, I didn't know what a fucking lunatic she was so I went, she cursed me and now her sister is going to undo it or I swear to the gods, I will tear your village apart," he ended with a show of his teeth.

Oh, he was definitely well on his way to earning himself a stabbing.

With trembling feet, Kagome stood up, eyes never leaving the demon. "Leave. Now. I have better things to do than fight you." Like tell the villagers their most skilled priestess and best hope for protection was dead. Fun times ahead.

"No. I hate to repeat myself, but I ain't going nowhere until you release me from the shit Kikyo did."

"You do know I'm a priestess too, right? I could very easily kill you," Kagome growled as she collected her bow and arrows off the ground.

"So why haven't you?" He sounded so smug and sure of himself. She really, really, really wanted to stab him.

The reason she didn't was the same as why she hadn't already used her powers to drive him off -her feelings were too unstable at the moment, her body weak from the shock of the news. Hands shaking too badly to even aim her bow.

A priestess needed to be calm and in control to use the divine powers. Things that Kagome sure as hell wasn't right now. She couldn't even remember the simplest of protection spells with the way her thoughts were running around. And while Kagomw wasn't as powerful as Kikyo, on a normal day she could have created a protective aura strong enough to spook this intruder off for the rest of the day. She could have shot him with a purifying arrow on any other day. But not today, because today her sister was dead and Kagome didn't remember how to breath.

"You all right?" Her eyes snapped up to the blurry red figure.

Why couldn't she see? Were these tears? Or was she going to faint again? Why did her chest hurt? She didn't find her voice in order to answer him, to tell him that she was fine.

"Don't go fainting on me again. If you do, I'll dump you in the river," his words were harsh, but there was a gentleness to his voice. And then he was next to her, his hand holding her arm and making sure she didn't fall. "You gotta breath, you idiot."

And she tried, she really did, she just couldn't feel any air in her lungs. Kikyo didn't have any air in her lungs ether.

Where was her body? Had she been left where she died to be eaten by animals and demons? Had humans found her and dumped the body in some nameless grave from where Kagome would never find her in order to pay her respects? Gods, the thought pained her. One of the greatest priestesses, _her sister_, rotting away in a demon's gut or a shallow grave.

"In. You got to breath in." Sharp claws took a hold of her jaw and tilted her head up. All she could see clearly was the golden glow of his eyes. He shook her head gently and took a loud breath to get her to follow his lead. It took a few tries, but eventually she managed to get a shaky breath in and then out. He kept his hold on her for a long time, until she seemed to have calmed down a bit and recovered her ability to breath without assistance.

"Thank you," she whispered, voice cracking as he took a step back and let go of her. He didn't answer, just looked at her with keen eyes.

Kagome swallowed and tried to decided if she wanted her next question answered. But she had to know. "Was she in pain?"

"It was a very bad shoulder wound. She seemed calm, wasn't crying or begging to be saved or anything." Kagome kept her eyes in the direction of the village, not wanting to show her reaction. The relieved breath she released might have given her away, though.

Bleeding out wasn't the most pleasant way to go, but there were also worse. Kikyo had gone with dignity. Naraku, no doubt, would have loved to take his time taunting, tormenting and humiliating Kikyo. He couldn't because he was interrupted. Kagome would have thanked the dog-eared demon, had she not been so sure he would be smug about it.

"What was the curse?" she asked and started to walk towards the village, trusting that he would follow. Kagome didn't like the idea of of undoing her sister's last act, but this demon didn't seem all that evil. Maybe Kikyo had just been confused on her last moments and thought that she was cursing Naraku? Blood loss could do a number on a person.

"She- uh- she tied my life to yours," he said hesitantly.

Kagome stopped dead on her tracks, bow nearly slipping from her fingers. "She did what?" disbelief colored her voice.

"Yeah. She said my life was locked with yours. If you die, I go too. You'll be fine if I die, so congrats; you didn't get the shitty end of this stick" he did not sound happy about that. Not that Kagome could blame him. "If I get too far from where you are, I'll get sick and weaken."

"Why on earth would she do that?!" Kagome's head was spinning again. Why would Kikyo do that? They hadn't been close in years. In fact, Kagome was pretty sure Kikyo hated her a little.

"She said something about Naraku going after you. Apparently, she didn't think you'd survive that, so instead she is forcing me into keeping your ass safe," he sounded very irritated about being made to be part of this. Again, she couldn't really blame him.

And now Kagome was growing annoyed too. At her dead sister, no less. Sure, she wasn't as skilled as Kikyo, but a little trust in her abilities would have been nice. Instead, Kikyo made an innocent bystander to be Kagome's meat shield. Kagome was becoming certain that this hadn't been an act of sisterly love. It was more likely that Kikyo wanted to be sure that the village wasn't completely defenseless, and a demon protecting the village priestess would be a great protection. Or forcing a demon to protect her was just one last insult from the dead priestess.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Kagome started to walk again. "What's your name?"

"What does it matter?"

"It doesn't, I suppose." Kagome shrugged. "But it might take some time for me to figure out how to break the spell, so I'd like to know who I'm talking to. Assuming you don't want to be referred to just as 'demon'."

It took a moment to realize that the other footsteps had stopped. When she turned around, she saw the demon gaping at her.

"You mean you're going to undo it?" She was a little offended at how shocked he sounded.

"Well, yeah. I don't want anyone dying just because they are forced to protect me," Kagome tried to keep her voice light as she, once again, started to head towards the village.

They walked some distance in silence before his voice startled her. "Inuyasha."

"What?" She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"My name is Inuyasha," he was quiet for a moment, hesitating. "And I'm a half-demon, not a full one."

Kagome felt like slapping herself. Of course. There had been something odd about his aura, but she hadn't looked deeper into it. Some priestess she was. Maybe Kikyo was right and she really was useless.

No more words were exchanged until they reached the village edge where Inuyasha froze in place, his ears flickering atop his head. He looked ready to run off.

"I'm going to go visit Kaede -she's the former head priestess. I have to tell her about... -about Kikyo. Kaede might also know about the spell and help me with breaking it." Kagome took in Inuyasha's guarded look. "Unless you cause trouble, she won't drive you off. You are welcome to wait here, though, if you would prefer."

His ear flicked one more time before he nodded. "I'll come to keep an eye on you. Can't have you plotting against me with that old bat of yours."


	3. Chapter 3

"Tell me again what happened and what she said. Leave nothing out." Inuyasha let out a suffering groan at Kaede's request.

"I've already told you all I know," he snapped.

"And you'll tell me again if you want the spell to be lifted." Kaede seemed unfazed by the growling half-demon in her hut. When she had first seen Kagome and her guest, all she'd done was raise her eyebrow before inviting them in and setting the tea water to boil. A frown had formed on her aged face when the old woman had heard of Kikyo's fate but all she'd done was squeeze Kagome's hand, knowing that the girl would not wish to speak of the matter in front of Inuyasha.

Inuyasha glared at Kaede from his spot leaning against the wall before starting his explanation again. "Naraku had been crossing through my territory for weeks at that point, but he'd managed to avoid me, so when I caught his stench again, I started to track him down. When i found him, he had already wounded Kikyo and she was bleeding on the ground. Naraku was missing his arm and was bleeding all over the place. He was way too injured to fight me, so he took off. I was gonna go after him when Kikyo started talking."

Inuyasha's eyes darted towards Kagome before he continued. "Got curios to what she wanted, and I thought, since he was so injured, that it'd be easy to track down Naraku even if he got a little head start. Went over, she grabbed my arm and started babbling about how her sister was in danger and that Naraku would go after Kagome. Then she started the spell."

"What were the exact words?" Kaede inquired, closing her one remaining eye and sipping her tea.

"Uh...something about tying my heart, body and soul to the blood she shared... There was also some bit about giving her energy as payment for an everlasting bond... Blah blah blah making a sacrifice... Then she drew some symbols on my arm with her blood, though they disappeared as soon as she drew them." Inuyasha nodded, clearly pleased with his explanation.

"Do ye have an odd understanding of what 'exact words' means?" Kaede sounded a little annoyed now, and Kagome had to hide her amused smile behind her tea as Inuyasha sputtered, offended.

"Well, excuse me if I don't remember all the rambles of an incoherent, dying lady from over a week ago!"

"If ye wish to be released from this, ye had better start remembering. Trying to undo this using the wrong method could harm not only ye, but also Kagome." Kaede aimed a hard look towards Inuyasha.

"It wasn't like I was paying attention. I had no idea what the hell was happening until she explained it afterwards and told me to find Kagome!"

"Ye would think, that one would pay attention to the last words spoken to them by a dying priestess as she draws on ye using her life's blood." Now the two were glaring at each other.

Kagome cleared her throat, hoping to break the tension. "So, Kaede, do you have any idea what kind of spell was used? It doesn't sound familiar to me."

Slowly, Kaede moved her gaze on Kagome. "No. This is not a spell that I have taught her, it does not sound like one an ordinary priestess would know." Kaede sipped her tea and gathered her thoughts. "It sound's like, in order to link ye and Inuyasha, she used herself as the bridge, the blood shared between Kikyo and Kagome working as the connection. That is strong blood magic and I have no knowledge of the workings of it."

"Where the fuck does a priestess go to learn blood magic? And why? Aren't priestesses known for despising all types of witchcraft."

"Kikyo did a lot of traveling, she could have learned it from anywhere." Kagome looked at Kaede, praying that she would have an answer. "Maybe she was hoping to find a way to defeat Naraku using witchcraft?"

Kaede frowned as she pondered on Kagome's words.

"What the hell is it with you people and Naraku? You had no problem believing that he was the one to kill Kikyo, she was worried about him killin' you, and apparently, she was willing to learn blood magic in order to use it to fight him... I'm going to go on a limb here and guess that you're real familiar with him." Inuyasha eyed Kagome with curiosity.

Kagome looked over to Kaede, who raised an eyebrow at her, clearly intending to leave the explaining to the young priestess. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but Inuyasha was now involved so he had the right to know.

Taking a deep breath, Kagome started the unpleasant tale. "He showed up around eight years ago, I was nine and Kikyo was twelve. We were playing by the river when he appeared from the woods. We had just started our priestess training, but his evil aura was so strong that we knew he was dangerous even when he looked like a harmless human. He tried to lure us into leaving with him and grew very angry when we refused. I think he was going to just grab us when some of the village men noticed and scared him off. He is strong now, but back then he didn't dare try fighting off four humans.

"Since that day, we started feeling his presence around the edge of the village. He never approached any of the other children, just me and Kikyo. We weren't allowed to be without adult company in case he tried to snatch us. Eventually he grew bold enough to try and take me from the village, killing three men in the process." Kagome could feel her jaw trembling at her memory. Never would she forget watching those three men trying their best to keep her safe and getting ripped apart for their efforts. She still had nightmares about it.

Kaede continued the story, seeing how distressed Kagome had become. "I was there in time to scare him away, before he could take off with Kagome. We often tried tacking him down to kill him, even hired demon slayers to help, but he is a master of hiding. Never once did I come across him if he didn't want me to."

Kaede leaned forward to pour more tea into Kagome's cup, hoping that the herbs of the drink would calm the girl. "Eventually, I started to feel his powers growing too strong for me to defeat on my own, and saw it best to put up a barrier to protect us until the girl's were powerful enough to help me take him out for good." The old woman gazed at the fading sunlight coming through the window. "Putting up a barrier strong enough to keep him out proved to be a difficult task, my body never fully recovered from the strain of it and I had to retire from my priestess duties. Kikyo took my place when she was fifteen."

"Barrier?" Inuyasha sat up straight, alarmed. "What barrier? I had no trouble entering the village." He looked them over, now suspicious of the two and their capabilities as priestesses.

"You wouldn't. It is only to keep away Naraku. Setting up one that stays up over the course of multiple years and harms all youkai would have been impossible, my energy would not have held out for something like that," Kaede scoffed. "Even now, the barrier needs constant attention and upkeep or it will fall."

"Naraku has continued to be a problem despite the barrier. Sometimes his presence can be felt testing the strength of our protections, and a handful of times a year he will slaughter someone leaving or coming to the village. He'll dump their bodies at the edge of the barrier with his mark carved into them, just to remind us that he's still around and waiting." Kagome glared at the firepit like it was responsible of the horrors they'd endured over the years. "Kikyo has fought him a few times, wounding him badly enough that any other demon would have perished, but somehow, Naraku always manages to survive and escape."

"Any idea what he wants? I mean, he seems to be putting in a lot of effort to get to you."

Kagome shrugged at Inuyashas question. If only they knew, maybe figuring out how to stop him would be easier.

"Well, what the fuck now? I ain't planning on hanging around this place until you keel over and take me with you!" Inuyasha sounded agitated as he stood up, starting to pace the length of the small hut. Kagome chewed her lip, feeling helpless. She wanted to release him from Kikyo's spell, but she had no idea how to go about it.

"Maybe ye should visit Mushin's temple. They have extensive collection of texts that could offer knowledge on this matter," Kaede hummed. "If Miroku happens to be there, he might also be of use. He does a great deal of traveling and might have come across this spell before."

Kagome groaned at the thought of the lecherous monk. "Oh, I'm sure he's angered enough witches to have plenty of knowledge on their curses."

"You think he could help?" Inuyasha asked curiously as he stopped his pacing, ears standing to attention.

"He is the only one I can think of who might know something and agree to help a half-demon." Kaede nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for? Kagome ain't getting any younger and I ain't dying when old-age takes her."

"Hey!" Kagome started, a little offended. "I'm only seventeen. I've still got at least ten years before you can start staying stuff like that."

"Keh, could've fooled me." The half-demon crossed his arms and smirked at her. _Oh that bastard,_ was all Kagome could think as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You had better be careful with what you say to me, or I won't help you." She gave him a smile of her own. "Then you'd have no choice but to try and enjoy your last decade alive."


	4. Chapter 4

"Could you slow down?" Kagome snapped for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The sun had barely been up when Inuyasha had demanded that they leave for Mushin's temple. He had wanted to go last night, but Kagome absolutely refused to travel when the sun had already been setting. From the speed he was traveling with now, Kagome assumed he was either trying to catch up on the lost time or trying to take revenge on her. Probably both.

Every time she had asked, Inuyasha refused to slow down. If Kagome tried to sit down to take a break, he would grab her arm and drag her after him until she agreed to continue. Now she was tired, hungry and mad. And it was all Inuyasha's fault.

"Pick up the pace! I'm already going at a crawling speed because of you and I ain't about to slow down any more," came the shout from a half-demon that was nothing but a red silhouette in the distance. Thanks to his hearing, she didn't have to raise her voice to be heard whereas Inuyasha had to yell out his replies, making it sound like he was mad... he probably was.

"I'm just a human you know! I can't run all day in order to keep up with you." Kagome kicked a small rock in frustration. They had been traveling less than half a day and she was already done with this, never mind that the journey should take at least three more days. There was no chance that they were both coming out of this experience alive, one of them would end up murdered by the roadside during the next few days. Maybe even by the end of this day.

"Ain't my fault that you're just a lousy human, and I sure as fuck ain't suffering the consequences of it. Now, pick. Up. The fucking. Pace!"

"No! And stop cursing at me!" Kagome stopped her walking and glared at the reason for her bad mood.

She could see Inuyasha turning around and heading back towards her. Kagome rolled her eyes and sat down on a rock next to the dirt road. She set down her bow and quiver, before starting to dig through the sack in which she carried food as well as other things she might need for this trip.

She was just about to take a bite out of her peach when Inuyasha came to a stop in front of her and grabbed her wrist. "No you don't. No breaks until I say so, and there won't be one until the sun starts setting. And that's only if I'm feeling generous."

Kagome tried to tuck her wrist -and her food- free from his grip while giving him her best stink eye. "If I don't eat and rest, I will pass out. And if that keeps happening, I won't be in good enough shape to undo the spell."

She could see his jaw tensing as he mulled her words, and then -at last- he relented. With an angry sigh, Inuyasha let go of her and drop down to sit on the ground, legs grossed and chin resting on his hand. Kagome could practically feel the annoyance radiating off of him.

She might have been a little pleased about that.

"You better be quick about it, were wasting time whenever were not moving," he grumbled. Kagome hummed as if in agreement, but in her mind she decided to take all the time she wanted just to spite him.

"What's your hurry anyway? It's not like the temple will disappear if were not there in the next few days." She took a careful bite out of the fruit and made a little noise of delight when the juice hit her mouth. Gods, she was thirsty but she had run out of water by the fourth hour of this trip. She'd have to convince Inuyasha to find her a stream soon... or she could just die of dehydration, which honestly seemed like a more pleasant thing to do.

"This mess has already take far too long to clean up. I ain't spending any more time on this than I have to," he scoffed.

Kagome snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, do you have some urgent half-demon things to take care of? Not enough villagers getting scared without your presence? A rabbit you have to hurry home to kill? Maybe there are some trees in your territory that you haven't pissed on yet?"

He whirled around to face her, looking a little murderous. "What the fuck do you think you know about my life?"

"Nothing," She shrugged. "That's why I asked." She did her best to adopt an innocent look on her face.

"Listen here you bitch," Inuyasha barked. "we're going to get to that temple and you ain't gonna open you mouth again until we get there. Got that?"

"Or what, you'll kill me? I thought you said yesterday that you weren't suicidal."

"I swear to the fucking Gods, I'm going to break your goddamn legs and drag you to that temple. See if that shut you up."

"So, your plan is to drop a half-dead, severely injured priestess to a temple inhabited by powerful monks?" She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that does sound like a great idea. I'm sure they will welcome you with open arms."

Inuyasha's lips started to peel back, revealing a set of sharp canines accompanied by the sound of a bone-chilling growl. The show of aggression would have probably freaked her out if she hadn't known he couldn't risk harming her. Also, her own anger and frustration did wonders in pushing down her natural instincts of 'don't piss him off, he can kill you in a blink of an eye'.

When, instead of answering, he just kept snarling at her, Kagome rolled her eyes. "It's not like I want to talk to you either. Just let me rest and eat when I need to and we don't have a problem."

He didn't ease up.

Kagome took an angry bite out of her peach and shook her head while swallowing, beyond annoyed with his attitude. "You seriously think I want to be here? I just found out my sister died and instead of dealing with that, I'm traveling with a complete jerk. I'm not planning on spending any unnecessary time with you, but I'm not going to get myself killed from sheer exhaustion just to keep you happy. So quit your growling and calm down, your the one wasting time arguing about this." She grabbed her empty waterskin and threw it at him. "If you wan't to be productive with your time, find water and fill that while I finish eating."

To her surprise, Inuyasha did take the waterskin without another word and got up to head for the forest. He was, of course, glaring at her and muttering some less-than-kind words as he went, but that didn't surprise her.

Dumb jerk, was what she was thinking about while watching him go.

Trying to calm her anger, Kagome ate her food and watched as the clouds rolled past in the sky. She was really starting to regret deciding to help Inuyasha. He had said that, according to Kikyo, Kagome was the only one who could break the spell. And yet, he treated her like dirt. She should have just told him to get comfortable with his new way of life and to leave her be.

She was in the process of stretching out her legs and dreading the amount of blisters she would have by the end of this day, when she felt the shift in the air. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and a cold feeling of dread pool at the pit of her stomach.

Something bad was closing in. And that something wasn't alone, there was a whole horde of them.

Kagome slung the quiver over her shoulder and picked up her bow, ready to shoot as she felt the horde of demons coming to a stop as they reached the edge of the forest. She felt the mass of demon energy splitting up, no doubt they were planning to surround her before attacking from all sides.

Kagome kept herself facing towards the direction where the demonic energy was the strongest. Her accuracy was good, but unless these demons were extraordinarily slow she didn't stand a chance against so many coming from all around her. Not to mention the limited amount of arrows she had.

Even though she was sure Inuyasha had sensed the demons by now, and -unless he wanted to die- was on his way to make sure she survived this, she was still a little nervous. Kagome had never seen him fight, she didn't know how well he would handle this. Add in the fact that they weren't exactly on friendly terms, he probably wouldn't mind if she lost a limb or two during this, as long as she remained alive.

As soon as she saw the first glimpse of a demon, Kagome let loose an arrow. It sunk into it's target, the sacred light purifying the demon and a few others that were close enough to be affected by it. She was quick to turn to the side where another demon was trying to catch her off guard. The arrow did it's duty, but Kagome cursed the fact that no other demon was close enough to be purified by the light. By her estimation there was at least forty different demonic auras, and her quiver could only hold 24 arrows -currently 22, so the more demons she took out in one shot the better.

Quickly, she took aim again, this time towards a grouping of demons, hoping to take out them all at once. Her concentration was broken when a loud, pained screech startled her. A fast glance told her that Inuyasha had arrived and was ripping off a demon's arm and using it to skewer another. Charming.

Kagome returned to her earlier targets and cursed out loud when she noticed that they'd scattered and were running for her from three different directions. She let loose two arrows in quick succession, but the third demon was too close by the time she yanked out a new arrow. She gripped the arrow in her fist, preparing to duck from the demon's claws and trying to spot a soft place on the demon that she'd be strong enough to stab her weapon into.

Just as the demon reached her, it collapsed to the ground as the result of a half-demon dropping down on it's back.

"What the fuck are you standing there for!?" Inuyasha yelled as he ripped off the offending demon's head.

Kagome chose to ignore him in order to step away from the blood splatter and shoot down another group of demons.

"Put the fucking bow down! I'm getting us out of here." Kagome yelped as pair of arms came around her, ready to whisk her away.

"No!" she yelled and let her powers flare a little. Inuyasha cursed and jumped away from her, shaking out his hands that had touched the purifying light.

"Did you already get hit on the head in the five fucking seconds I was away?" he growled at her while turning around and using his claws to slash at a demon that had tried to sneak up on him. "Or did you forget that you'll get me killed too with your stupidity." As soon as he was done with his opponent, he whirled back towards Kagome, who had gone back to aiming her bow.

"I didn't forget, but if we run they'll just follow us. Or they might move on to the nearest village. We can't let that happen." Kagome avoided looking at him, keeping her focus on her targets.

"What the hell do I care about some human village." He stomped over to her and wrapped his fingers around her arm. "Now, put a fucking leash on your powers and quit being stupid. I'm getting us out of here."

Kagome tried to free herself from him but he wasn't letting up. "No! If you don't want to fight then leave, but I'm not going anywhere until these demons are dead." The demons in question were getting close, screeching and trying to find the best angle to attack from. Kagome was a little surprised at how smart they were being. Usually, a low-level demons like these would attack without much of a strategy, but these ones were taking their time, waiting until her focus was somewhere else before trying to charge at her from behind.

She had a bad feeling on exactly who was responsible for teaching these demons.

"I'd get all of three steps away before keeling over because you got yourself gutted." He was forced to let go of her so he could attack another demon that had dared to come too close. Kagome wasted no time before aiming again, now that her arm was free.

"Then I guess you'll have to stay and help." The only response she got was a string of insults and curses, as Inuyasha did just that.

It took a while and a few close calls, but they managed to kill all the demons. Neither of them were celebrating though, since they were busy glaring at each other.

"What the hell was that, wench? You nearly fucking shot me!" Inuyasha yelled and stomped towards her.

"I told you to get out of the way!" she snapped back while trying to shake off the demon goo from her sleeve. "Besides, I nearly got squashed by that demon corpse you threw!"

"If you don't see a massive, dead demon flying your way, maybe you have no business being on the battlefield."

"I shouldn't have to worry about getting hurt by the person whose fighting on the same side as me!"

The arguing continued for a while longer until they had exhausted all their insults and accusations. After a long moment filled with more glaring, Kagome finally had enough and marched off, declaring that she needed wash off the demon blood from her hair.

Surprisingly, Inuyasha didn't fight her on that. Probably because he too was covered in demon entrails. He even showed her the way towards the river he had found earlier. Kagome had started to think that maybe they could get along, but as he walked past her, he made a comment about how awful she smelled.

Unsurprisingly, they argued some more after that.

* * *

**I'm so sorry that this chapter is a few weeks late. Also, thank you for the nice comments and messages, they've really cheered me up. I hope you all are doing well, despite the world situation right now.**

**This was the first action scene I've written, so I'm a little worried about how it turned out. Was it messy? Boring? Unclear? Improvement ideas?**

**Thank you for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

Later that night, when Kagome had finally convinced him that they'd traveled enough for one day and they'd found a spot to camp for the night, she glanced up to where Inuyasha was sitting high up on a tree branch. They had barely spoken after they had had one last spat at the stream. They would need to talk about the demons they'd come across earlier, but Kagome didn't want to be the first one to speak. It somehow felt like admitting defeat.

"For fuck's sake, woman. I can hear you thinking so just spit it out already!" Inuyasha grumbled from his hiding spot.

All right, so maybe she hadn't been as discreet with her staring as she thought.

Kagome hesitated a moment more, deciding on the best way to approach the matter. "Those demons... Do you think Naraku send them?" she asked finally.

"How would I know?"

"You didn't smell him on them? Didn't you think their way of attacking was a little... advanced for demons like that?"

"I mean...yeah. I thought I could catch a whiff of Naraku's stench at one point," he answered after a moment, hesitation clear in his voice.

She was more than a little miffed at his response. "Didn't think that would be something worth mentioning?"

Honestly, she didn't think Inuyasha was dumb enough to think that information like this wasn't important enough to share with her. Did he think she would freak out if she knew, or did he just have no concept of how to work with others?

"I was kinda' occupied with trying to make sure we wouldn't die!" Inuyasha snapped.

"And you couldn't find the right moment to talk about it during the whole day when we did nothing but walk in silence?"

"Slipped my mind."

Kagome grit her teeth together and fought the urge to throw him with something. "If Naraku send those demons, then chances are that he'll try something like that again."

"Keh, figured my luck would be bad enough to get me stuck with someone like you. Damn demon lure..." he muttered the last last part but she heard him just fine.

This time she did pick up a small pebble and launched it at him. Kagome was satisfied when she heard it hit it's target.

"Hey!" he yelped from the tree. "I saved your life earlier, you should be thanking me, not throwing shit at me."

"You saved my life?" Kagome stood up and set her hands to her hips, glaring up at him. "That's funny, because I clearly remember shooting down a demon that was successfully sneaking up on you while you were busy yelling at me!"

Inuyasha jumped down and stomped over to stand in front of her. He too seemed to be seething with anger. "What, you think you could have handled all those demons with a handful of arrows?" He scowled at her. "And I knew that demon was there, I was just about to attack it!"

"You sure looked surprised for someone that knew what was happening!"

"More like surprised that you didn't accidentally hit me!"

"If I hit you, it wouldn't be an accident!" Kagome swiped back her bangs so he wouldn't miss her angry stare. "And I'm still a priestess. Even if I ran out of arrows, I'm not helpless against demons."

Inuyasha snorted. "Oh please, you have the spiritual powers of a fucking toddler. At least your sister seemed capable as a priestess, all I've seen you do is some sparkly arrows."

Kagome gasped and took a step back like he'd punched her. And, in way, he had. Being compared to Kikyo had always been a sore spot and now that she was dead, it somehow felt even worse. Kagome knew she wasn't as good as Kikyo had been, but she wasn't useless either!

"Oh great, now you're crying."

Kagome glowered at him through blurred vision. "I'm not crying! I'm just so angry that there are tears."

"That's not a thing." He eyed her skeptically

"It is too!" She turned her back to him and tried to force the moisture out of her eyes. Like hell was she crying in front of him!

"Never heard of it before. Must be some dumb human thing."

"Of course it's a dumb human thing! I am a human!"

There was a long silence before she heard his steps, as he circled around her until he was once again in front of her. Kagome kept looking to the side at the campfire, refusing to meet his eyes.

He stood there a moment longer before speaking again, "You weren't hurt earlier were you? I mean during the battle."

She was startled enough by the question to look up at him. "Why would you care?"

"I don't." Now he was the one to avoid her eyes. She could have sworn she saw him blushing a little. "I just don't want to die because you got an infection."

"No, I wasn't hurt." Kagome forced herself to relax her stance, and then she forced herself to swallow her pride. They were going to be stuck together for a while longer; if they could be civil with each other, the easier this would be. "Thank you. You kept the demons from getting too close to me."

Now it was Inuyasha's turn to look startled. "I-uh-yeah-you're welc-... I mean, I was just making sure I'd get out of there alive." Now she was sure he was blushing.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm still grateful," she said softly and went to add wood to the fire. He stood in his place a bit longer before returning to his tree branch. No more words were exchanged that night, but the atmosphere in their camp was much better than it had been before.

The next few days of travel had been slightly more bearable. _Slightly._

Inuyasha let her take her breaks, he still complained about it, but he didn't try to stop her. And his traveling speed was a little more humane. They didn't talk much, but that also meant there was less arguing which was nice.

He had even hunted enough food for the both of them the night before.

All in all, traveling together might have been somewhat pleasant if not for the fact that they were both tense and expecting to be attacked.

It was pretty clear that Naraku had been the cause of the earlier attack, and the priestess was sure that the demon was plotting something. She was pushing her spiritual powers to their limit trying to sense any hint of demonic energy. So far nothing, but Kagome refused to be lulled into a false sense of security.

Inuyasha seemed on edge too. His ears were flickering, picking up any and all sounds around them, his head constantly turning around and scanning the tree lines. From time to time he would stop and sniff at the air. Had the situation been different, Kagome would have laughed at the dog-like mannerism.

Eventually her nerves started to get the best of her, and Kagome knew she'd have to distract herself somehow.

"So, Inuyasha," she started slowly. "what is it that you can do?"

"What do you mean?" he sounded a little distracted, he stopped where he was walking a few steps in front of her and directed his focus on the scents in the air.

"You know, any demon powers I should know about?" She stopped as well and looked up at him, though he was more interested in the forest. Kagome knew that there was nothing there to worry about; besides Inuyasha, she could sense no demons in the vicinity. "I mean, you're obviously stronger than a human, but I know demons can also have other abilities."

His eyes snapped to her and Kagome could see the suspicion there. "Why do you want to know?"

"Thought it might be useful to know, considering that Naraku will probably attack again." She looked at Inuyasha curiously, wondering why the question had made him seem so tense.

"I'm strong enough to make sure you stay alive and that's all you've gotta know about me," he snapped and started to stomp forward again, obviously intending to ignore her.

_Great_, she thought sourly, _he's angry again_. It seemed far too easy to offend the half-demon, and Kagome hated the feeling of having to walk on eggshells to make sure she didn't piss him off.

Then again, why should she worry about angering him? He had no problems insulting and yelling at her. Kagome grit her teeth before following after him, quietly steaming in her annoyance until it became too much and she had to say something.

"Why are you so hellbent on getting mad at me for everything? It was just a question."

"I ain't mad," he all but growled back.

"Sounds like you are..." Maybe she was poking the bear with her questions, and maybe she didn't care.

He threw a mean look her way, eyes narrowed. "Can't you just drop it?"

"No, I can't just drop it. Me knowing the extent of your capabilities might be helpful in a life or death situation."

Kagome could hear a low, annoyed rumble coming from his direction, but there was no other response. She let them walk a few more steps in silence in order to calm her ire a little bit before trying again.

"I've heard that dog-demons can cause damage with poisons. Is that something I should be mindful of?" If he didn't want to handout information freely, then maybe simple yes/no questions would work. She did her best to keep her voice as calm and kind as she could, not wanting to scare him off with her curiosity.

There was a long stretch of silence that had Kagome preparing for having her question go unanswered. But before she could start talking at him again, he surprised her with his reply.

"No. Only full demons of my kind can do that. I'm still just a half," his voice was low and he didn't sound happy about answering. His posture was beyond tense and he avoided looking at her, but she gave him a soft, encouraging smile anyway.

"Alright, that makes sense. Probably better that way. I mean, avoiding toxic gas while fighting sounds a little inconvenient for me." She gave a little laugh, hoping to get him to relax. "I'm assuming that means I won't have to worry about you turning into a giant dog either?"

Inuyasha snorted, a little amused by the idea. "Yeah, not me. But if you want to get poisoned and then stomped by a big poodle, let my asshole of a brother know -he'd be happy to do it."

Kagome raised her brows at the new information. She found herself curious about his family, but asking about it would probably end badly. But she was so tempted to know more.

"Hah, yeah, I think I'll skip that." She bit her lip and considered her options for this conversation. "...So you have a brother?"

Inuyasha's jaw tensed and he shot her a wary look. "...Yeah. What's it to you?"

Oh yes, this was definitely the wrong route for this conversation.

Kagome scrambled to find a way to backtrack, cursing herself for opening her mouth. She was sure that after this, Inuyasha would never anwer another question from her

"Oh, that's nice. I mean, sounds like you're not too fond of him, but being an only child would be lonely." _Stop!_ She screeched internally, but nothing could stop her panicked rambling. "Not that I know what it would be like to be an only child, I had Kikyo after all. Though she did become pretty distant and little mean when we started training to become priestesses. But before that she was nice to be around."

There was no saving this. He would start yelling at her for oversharing and prying into his life. They would spend the rest of their journey arguing and it would be hell.

She looked carefully at Inuyasha. There was a tick in his jaw and a hard look in his golden eyes as he stared ahead. Time seemed to crawl as she waited for him to blow up on her.

She almost tripped over her own feet when his response was something other than a threat of maiming.

"Yeah well, Sesshomaru has always been very distant and a lot more than just mean." Inuyasha shrugged like it was no big deal. "He hates the idea of sharing the same blood as a half-breed."

Kagome felt a bang in her heart at how casually he talked about being rejected by a family member. Like he was completely fine with the idea that his own brother hated him over something he had no control over.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, before realizing that Inuyasha would probably not like it if he thought she was pitying him.

But once again he surprised her with looking startled at her words instead of angry.

"What are you sorry for? Ain't your fault." He kicked a rock with a lot more focus than was necessary, avoiding her eyes to the best of his abilities.

"I just am. It must have been difficult growing up with a brother like that." She watched his ear twitch in her direction.

He shrugged. "Keh. Wasn't like I had to put up with him all that much. He was already old enough to travel around by himself by the time I came around, so he only dropped by every few years to make sure me and my mother were still alive."

Kagome wanted to ask about his parents, but that seemed like pushing her luck. So instead she cleared her throat and changed the topic. "So, no poison or big dogs on the battlefield. I'm afraid that's all I know about Inu-youkai battle strategies, so if there's anything else, you're going to have to fill me in."

Inuyasha looked at her with furrowed brows, trying to figure her out. She met his gaze with steady eyes. It didn't take a genius to know that he didn't trust her. He probably thought that the priestess was looking for a weak spot, something to use against him later on.

In all honesty, Kagome was a little hurt that he would think her capable of shuts betrayal. But then again, demons and those with holy powers were usually natural enemies, so it wasn't like she could blame him for his hesitancy.

"I won't die from things that would be fatal to a human," he said eventually. "If you want to know what else I can do, you're just gonna have to wait and hope you won't be around to see it."


	6. Chapter 6

A week ago Inuyasha would never have believed that he would be relieved to see a temple full of monks. And yet, here he was. Fucking ecstatic to see the tall building on top of ridiculously high set of stairs.

He wasn't foolish enough to think that he would be welcomed in the building, but he didn't need the monks to be happy in order to get what he wanted. Scared for their lives would do just fine, if they didn't volunteer the information he and Kagome needed.

Sure, the priestess would probably not be happy if Inuyasha threatened her fellow holy men, but Kagome could be as angry with him as she wanted as long as Inuyasha was able to get away from her without the fear of death.

"You can wait here if you want," Kagome said, eyes fixed to the top of the stone steps.

"Worried your friends will purify my ass?" She chewed on her lip, refusing to answer or even look at him. Inuyasha got the message loud and clear. "Keh. As if I would die in the hands of some monks. C'mon."

He started up the stairs. He had taken a dozen steps before his ears picked up the sound of Kagome doing the same.

Inuyasha didn't understand why she would worry about how he got along with the monks. It wasn't like she was in any danger. Most likely the monks would be coddling and fawning over her once they heard that the young priestess had been forced to travel with a half-demon. Those damn celibates would probably be drooling for the chance to have her attention.

Inuyasha was a little disturbed to notice that the thought bothered him.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the feeling. It was dumb. Why would he care who Kagome paid attention to? She was a human -a fucking priestess at that. Just because she had been a little nice, didn't mean he should forget that they were on different sides.

Gods, he must have gone mad during the years he spent alone if a few conversations with a woman had him attached to her.

This whole mess better be over soon so he could take off. Kagome and that old hag could deal with this Naraku -thing on their own.

There had been one more demon-attack last night. Though it could barely be called an attack since it was just a handful of weak demons. Between the two of them, it had not taken long to deal with the threat. But as Kagome had pointed out, the demons had probably been there to collect information. Especially since a few of them had stayed away from the fighting and taken off when it became clear that Inuyasha and Kagome had no problems defeating their brethren.

_Damn Naraku_, Inuyasha thought darkly. _Coward can't even fight us himself._

When Inuyasha reached the top, he turned around to see that Kagome had only just passed the halfway point of the steep steps. He chuckled over how out of breath she looked. He kept forgetting how frail humans were. His amusement grew when Kagome looked up, sensing his gaze, and scowled as she noticed his smirk. She seemed to gather herself and trudged up the steps with more determination.

He had to give it to her, she was stubborn as all hell.

His attention was pulled away from the girl when he heard hurried steps approaching. He braced himself for the worst before turning around.

The young monk stopped in his tracks, eyes snapping from his eyes to his ears to his claws, and then back to his eyes. Looking frightened, the monk took a step back and clutched his prayer beads with both hands.

"Stop, you evil beast!" he yelled with a shaky voice, lifting up the flimsy beads like they would stand a chance against the annoyed half-demon. "Th-these are holy grounds. You h-have no right to be here!"

Inuyasha snorted and rolled his eyes. This monk was barely an adult and very clearly not at all confident in his ability to face off against a demon. Inuyasha could only hope that this wasn't the Miroku -person, who was currently the half-demon's best hope for freedom. "Oh, please. You couldn't fight a mosquito with those things, like hell are you driving me away with them."

His words had an instant effect on the monk who started trembling, nearly dropping his precious beads from his shaking hands. Inuyasha was just about to see how badly he could scare the foolish monk, when Kagome finally managed to reach the top and step next to him. Well, 'step' might have been a generous term -it looked more like a stumble.

Kagome was leaning her hands to her thighs, breathing heavily. "Gods, I will never understand why these temples have to be build so high up." She straightened up, rubbing her side that was stinging from the exertion.

"Kikyo!" the monk yelled out, instantly gaining Kagomes attention.

"No," she started slowly, her voice sounding brethless. "I'm Kagome. Kikyo is- was my sister."

The monk looked taken aback, faltering over what was happening and what to do. Before Inuyasha could snap at him again, Kagome took charge of the situation.

"We would like to meet with Mushini." Kagome stated with a voice that didn't leave room for an argument.

The poor boy tried anyway.

"I...uh..d-don't think that that's possible." Inuyasha rolled his eyes, already bored with watching the monk's fumbling.

"Mushin is here, isn't he?" Kagome was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Yes, but-"

"Then it's possible to meet him." Even Inuyasha, the fierce half-demon that he was, would have thought twice before going against her if she'd used that tone of voice on him. This monk was clearly more than a little stupid. And maybe self-destructive if his feeble attempt to stand off against Inuyasha had been any indication.

"Yes, but..uh..." He looked very nervous before seeming to gather himself. "The demon can't come here."

_Of fucking course_, Inuyasha thought with a roll of his eyes. He was about to snap at the sorry excuse of a monk, but Kagome beat him to it.

"_The demon _is named Inuyasha and he is with me." The priestess stomped forward until she was right in front of the boy. "We have been walking for days, I'm exhausted and I just climbed those damn stairs, so if you were smart, you'd know it's not him you should be worried about. Now, are you going to show us to Mushin or do you wan't to stand here annoying me a little longer?"

It seemed that the boy did have something between his ears, because with a quick 'this way', he half-stumbled, half-ran towards the temple.

"Gotta say, I'm impressed," Inuyasha said as he fell into step next to her. "You were actually a little intimidating. Wouldn't have thought it was possible for someone as small as you."

She snorted at that. "How many times have we fought already and you're just now thinking I can be taken seriously?"

"When you're yelling at me, it's like a little dog nipping at my heels. More irritating than anything." He had thought she might take that as an insult, but Kagome surprised him with a laugh.

She opened her mouth to shoot back, but stopped when she noticed a few of the monks they were passing by staring at them and clutching their prayer beads. Kagome narrowed her eyes at them, daring them to say something. Inuyasha clenched his jaw, having long since grown used to a variety of different reactions his presence would bring. What he found odd was that Kagome seemed bothered by it.

"So- uh, why are we meeting this Mushini -guy? Didn't that old hag think that the other one would be more useful?"

Kagome turned to look at him, and for a moment he was taken startled by how big her eyes looked. "Yeah, Miroku, but... he can be a little much at times, so I'd rather see if Mushin can help before asking Miroku."

Inuyasha was about to ask what she meant by that when a loud "Kagome!" pulled their attention. They had arrived in front of the temple, and on it's steps sat an old, sake reeking monk.

"Mushin," Kagome greeted kindly, bowing slightly to show respect. Inuyasha didn't bother with that.

"My girl, it's good to see you again. It has been far too long since the sight of a woman has blessed these grounds." Mushin was smiling widely, looking them over. "And I see you brought a friend. I must say I'm a little surprised by your choice of company." The half-demon had expected there to be hatred or disdain in those words, but all he heard was curiosity.

Kagome nodded softly. "Yes, well, the situation we are in is a little...unexpected and we kind of need some help." She looked pointedly at the young monk still hanging around, watching them like a lost puppy. "Would it be possible to speak somewhere more private."

Mushin raised his brows at her. "Why, of course. Thank you Hojo, you may go now." The younger monk looked disappointed, but made quick work of leaving. After he was gone, Mushin struggled to his feet and started to head inside the building. "Come along. I'm sure this will take you some time to explain and I must have something to drink while I hear it."

A little later, Kagome and Mushin were sitting around a table, the old monk sipping from a cup of sake as Kagome ignored her tea in favor of telling the recent events that had led them there. Inuyasha was leaning against the wall and refusing to take part in the conversation or repeating a story he had already gone over far too many times.

His ears were standing to attention, listening to the monks walking around the temple grounds, gossiping like old women. They whispered about the monstrous demon that had been allowed onto the sacred grounds, as well as the pretty priestess who surely had come here to seek help. The bastards were spending awful lot of time wondering over which of them would be best suited to help her and what kind of reward she would give.

He felt immensely satisfied when the boys were caught over their less-than-holy topic of conversation by an older monk, who didn't hold back on handing out punishments.

"So do you think there's anything you could do to help us?" Kagome's words pulled his focus back, golden eyes snapping to look at the monk.

Mushin was quiet for a few moments that felt like pure torture. "No. This is not a spell I'm familiar with. Kaede was right, Miroku will be of more use to you on this."

Kagome seemed to deflate a little as she sighed with defeat. "All right then. Where's the per- Miroku?"

"He isn't here."

"What!" Inuyasha shot to his full height, dread crashing into him. "Where the fuck is he then?"

Mushin didn't seem bothered by the half-demons outburst, sipping his drink with serene expression. "He left for the slayer village a week ago."

At this, Kagome's head snapped up with interest. "The slayer village? Why there?"

"Why the fuck does that matter? Get up, wench, we're in a hurry." Inuyasha was already half-way to the door. Like hell was he letting this drag on any longer, he would fucking carry Kagome the whole way if it meant not having to stop. He knew where the slayer village was, and he knew it would take at least another week to arrive if they went with human speed.

"Hold it, boy. There is a bad storm coming and you don't want to be caught in it." Inuyasha stopped and turned to tell him just how little he cared about a damn storm, but the half-demon was already being ignored as Mushin focuse on Kagome. "We received word that the slayers were badly attacked, many are dead and in need of proper burial ceremonies, as well as help with the defense of the village while the survivors gather themselves."

"W-was...did...do you know who were among the dead?" Kagome sounded strained. Inuyasha furrowed his brows, wondering what had her so worried.

"I don't know the specifics," Mushin started. "I do, however, know that the attack was led by a demon named Naraku."

Kagome slammed her hands against the table, her shoulders shaking. For a moment, Inuyasha worried that she was going to cry.

But when she spoke, no one could mistake the pure anger there. "That bastard." Kagome stood up, her face was hard as stone as she bowed respectfully to the monk. "Thank you for your help, but we must leave now." She turned to face Inuyasha and nodded towards the door.

He was a little surprised that there wouldn't be a fight over traveling in a storm. Not that he was complaining.

"Why are you young people always in such a hurry. You have shared your knowledge with me, would you not want me to do the same?"

They both halted in their tracks, Kagome turning her head and frowning at Mushin. "What do you mean?"

"You and your sister are not the only once plagued by Naraku. He has bothered and murdered several of those possessing sacred powers."

"What?" Kagome sounded completely shocked, while Inuyasha was busy cursing in his head. Naraku was really going to be a fucking nuisance on his ass.

The demon was planning something, and it was bigger than just taking out two priestesses because of some personal vendetta. Inuyasha knew well enough that demons were always after more territory, more power, more influence...more everything. So whatever it was that Naraku wanted, it was sure to affect all demons. No demon would go around killing monks, priests and priestesses with such focus if they didn't have something big planned.

Fucking hell, what had he been dragged into?

"Kikyo visited us more than a year ago and asked for my assistance. Since then I have been gathering information." Mushin was the picture of solemn as he talked, even his sake sat forgotten. "At first it was just years old reports of a demon fitting Narakus description killing monks and priest who were still very young and new to their duties, but the more recent information shows that he has been murdering those of higher rank... Kikyo being the strongest."

Kagome was quiet for a long moment, taking in the new information. "Why? What does a achieve with killing us? What's the point, other than to anger those whose friends and family he murders?"

She was right, this made no sense.

Naraku was doing nothing but adding to a list of holy-men wanting to take vengeance on the demon. He was either dumb, insane or very confident in himself.

Inuyasha surprised himself by worrying over the situation. He wasn't supposed to care about anything aside from being free again, but the concern in Kagomes eyes was tugging at him.

_Why is she looking at me?_ Inuyasha wondered. He didn't have answers or solutions. He had absolutely nothing to offer in this situation.

He clenched his jaw and met her gaze, unable to say anything. All he could do was listen as the storm drew closer.

* * *

**Hi! I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long. The only excuse I have is that I did not like how this chapter ended up and I've re-written it so many times. I'm still not happy with it, but if I try writing this again I might just delete the whole story in frustration.**

**Anyway, sorry again for the wait and I hope you liked it.**


End file.
